


Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

by Janeway_in_a_TARDIS



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Odo to the rescue, Season/Series 03, Soft Kira, kira has nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:48:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23641846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Janeway_in_a_TARDIS/pseuds/Janeway_in_a_TARDIS
Summary: The usually stalwart Major has a nightmare. As per usual, it's Odo to the rescue.Set sometime Season 3 because that's what I've watched so far.
Relationships: Kira Nerys/Odo
Comments: 5
Kudos: 36





	Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

**Author's Note:**

> This show has recently dug its claws into me and I'm obsessed. I absolutely adore this pairing and then had a nightmare of my own, which sparked the need to write some fluff about it. This is set sometime late season 2/early season 3 ish, but really it can fit wherever.

“Kira to Odo.”

“Major? What are you doing up at this hour?” Odo was immediately on alert when he looked at the time on his security console. 0330.

“Odo I..I just...Could you come to my quarters please?” The Major asked, in what was possibly the smallest Odo had ever heard her voice.

“Of course. Should I call for a team?” Odo asked in response, already out of his office and jogging down the Promenade.

“No, no, it’s nothing like that,” Kira replied in what seemed to be a tear-filled voice. “I just need to see you.”

“I’ll be right there.”

By the time Odo got to Kira’s quarters, he had already come up with 246 reasons as to why she would call him this late. Most of them made him regret not having called for backup. (Many others of them he tried very hard not to think about.) As he neared her door he instinctively began trying to see if he could find any evidence of a struggle in the corridor. Finding none, he raised his guard further when he chimed for her, making his body a little more firm than the average humanoids. A good part of him expected to have to leap into her quarters and challenge whoever it was that was bothering her. Almost immediately after the chime, the door slid open to Kira leaning against the frame, looking more exhausted than the changeling had ever seen her. He noted that her eyes were red as if she had been crying. 

“Odo. Hi. I’m so sorry; I shouldn’t have called. It really isn’t anything important.”

He let his form relax somewhat upon seeing no immediate danger to her and inspected her more closely before replying. “Major, I hope you’ll pardon my saying so, but that doesn’t seem true. Is something the matter?” 

A quick glance behind her showed him no looming threats, and nothing seemed to be out of place. Upon looking back at her face, the security chief could see her exhaustion and her pride fighting each other for dominance in her features. Eventually, the exhaustion won.

“I just… I had a bit of a nightmare. That’s all. It just shook me and I suppose I called you out of instinct.” She took a few steps back from the doorway in what appeared to be quiet resignation. As he followed her in, she went to go sit on her couch and he sat in a chair across from her, elbows on his knees and fingers laced.

“Would you… like to talk about it?” He asked, in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. He realized as soon as it was out of his mouth that he was very out of his depth here. More tears welled in Kira’s eyes and he immediately backpedaled. “That is if you want to. You don’t have to, of course. But I can listen. Or I can just go if you want to-”

“No! I uh, I mean, thank you, Constable. I probably should talk about it. I just, well, I don’t really know where to start and I just well I-I was so _scared_!” As she snapped the last word in disgust, the tears that had been threatening finally fell and the usually rigid Major folded in on herself as she began to sob. Odo, acting on pure instinct, rounded the table and sat next to her on the couch, pulling her to him as she shivered and cried.

“Shh, Maj-Nerys,” he caught himself before he used her title. Even _he_ knew that it was a bit stiff for the situation. “Shh, Nerys, it’s okay. It was just a dream. It’ll be alright.” He babbled to her helplessly and patted her shoulder with the arm he had put around her, in hopes he could provide some sort of comfort to her. Prophets, he was bad at dealing with these humanoids and their emotions!

Eventually, Kira’s sobs subsided again and she stilled. Odo realized that he had unconsciously made himself a little softer where she curled against him, a little more pillowy for comfort. Her conscious self didn’t seem to notice, but her unconscious seemed to like it enough to quietly snuggle closer. After a few moments like this, her voice broke the silence.

“I’m sorry, Odo. I never meant for you to see me like this,” she whispered. Odo noted the fact that contrary to her words, she made no moves to shift away from him. “I just had such a vivid nightmare. I get them from time to time but this one was… Well, this one was different.”

“How so?” He murmured to her quietly. He felt her stiffen slightly at the question before once again relaxing. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before answering him.

“Well, you were in it, for starters.” What functioned as a heartbeat in him sped up at this admission, before slowing again in her next sentence. “Well, everyone here was really. Dax, Sisko, even little Molly O’Brien. Odo, I...I had to watch them all be killed in front of me. The Cardassians had retaken the station and they wanted to punish me so they made me watch while they...while they…” She broke off to take another breath before continuing. “But you. Oh Prophets, you were the worst, Odo. I walked around the empty Promenade and turned a corner and there you were all cut up and dying and parts of you still looked humanoid and just oh Odo it was awful.” She cut herself off again as a fresh wave of tears poured down her face for what felt like the hundredth time that night. He quietly rubbed her back while deciding what to say.

“I’m not sure how much difference it makes,” he started after a moment. “But you know I don’t get hurt like humanoids do. It’s a very different process for me.”

“I know. It just felt so _real_ , Odo. I woke up convinced I would never see you again. I think that’s why I called you without thinking about it.” She looked somewhat embarrassed to remember her frantic call.

“Well, for my part, Major, I’m glad you did. And I’m here now, and last I checked still in the land of the living.” He gave her one of his rare, tight-lipped smiles. She let out a watery laugh in return. He gently pulled away from her (and tried his best to ignore the slight sadness the loss of her touch elicited) to look at her properly. “Should you try and get some sleep, Major?”

Her eyes flashed with fear again for a moment before she took a breath and conceded. “I suppose. I just...I don’t want it to happen again, Odo. I don’t want to see it again. Every time I close my eyes…” She didn’t need to finish the sentence for him to understand.

“Would it help if I stood guard until you get to sleep?” He offered hesitantly. “I can sit in here for a while while you go get some rest.”

She opened her mouth to say something and then seemed to think better of it and was simply quiet for a few moments. Her face reddened before she spoke her next sentence. “Odo, would you mind if… That is to say, if you don’t want to that’s okay, it’s just… Well, it would be nice to um... Well, when I was with the Resistance I got used to sleeping in close quarters with others and it was comforting to always feel someone there. It’s still strange all these years later to be, well, alone…”

“You...would like me to stay in the bed with you?” Odo said, glad that he didn’t have the humanoid ability to blush. He could almost feel the heat in his cheeks nonetheless.

“Not-not if you don’t want to,” Kira stammered quickly, still refusing to meet his eyes. She finally looked up when he stood from the couch and offered her a hand. Hesitantly, she took it.

“Let’s get some rest,” he said simply, and lead her to lay down.

Due to his changeling nature, Odo had never quite understood the humanoid affinity for sleep. It seemed to be a terribly inefficient way of regenerating. But as Kira slowly relaxed into a deep sleep in his possibly-softer-than-usual arms, he found himself sad to have to leave. He’d said only until she fell asleep, however, and he was nothing if not a man of his word. He quietly slipped out from under her and made sure she was well tucked in. After a brief moment’s hesitation, he bent down and left her a soft kiss on her temple, before sullenly walking back to his office to read more security reports. And if Kira woke the next morning with a pang of sadness upon realizing her bed was once again empty, well, he wasn’t there to see it and would never know.


End file.
